Joost, the startup company that was started by the same ones who brought us Skype and KaZaa has been re-released.  Now the site is all web-based and is no longer driven by their desktop-software.  That is great news because the hardware specs needed to run the desktop software was too high and it seemed to have problems with buffering the video.  Joost still requires a plug-in for the P2P technology to work and to save on bandwidth costs. 

There is a new type of community built around Joost.  The homepage contains what users have watched recently.  There are now over 35,000 videos that can be watched legally on the site.  The videos are broken down by Film, Music, and Shows.  Of those three categories, there are multiple sub-categories such as Anime or Comedy. 

Starting next month, the plug-in will no longer be required according to TechCrunch.  Those who want to watch Standard programming can watch all of it on the web.  To have access to the on-demand programming, the plug-in will be required.  While Joost still has a lot of catching up to do with YouTube and Hulu, they still have a lot of exclusive content.

Joost was started by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom.  Former Cisco Systems executive Mike Volpi currently serves as the CEO.  And Roelof Botha, Partner at Sequoia and former PayPal CFO serves on the board.  Joost has about raised about $45 million in Series A funding.  Volpi announced the changes on the Joost Blog.

Update: Well it’s official, TechCrunch has just published screen shots of the new Joost

Joost was the P2P company that believed that they’d be able to single-handedly be able to take on television sets around the world. That was until CBS, Hulu, iTunes, etc. decided to stream HD-quality TV shows. Now Joost is going to eliminate their desktop software altogether.

GigaOM reports that they are going for a browser-only strategy. It is rumored that Joost is going to create a plugin and users will be able to grab files through P2P on a browser.

Last summer, Joost was the must-have software. But then users discovered that it had lost it’s appeal because of bandwidth limitations, slow streaming, and lack of good content. This happened after Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, founders of Joost and Skype raised $45 million in VC money.

When the news becomes official, this page will be updated. If or when the plugin gets created, check back on Pulse 2.0.

Joost, the P2P video utility started by the same co-founders as KaZaa and Skype, has recently let go of their CTO, Dirk-Willem van Gulik.  Van Gulik took a new job with BBC’s Future Media Technology Group as the Chief Technical Architect where he will oversee the development of a similar application called the iPlayer.

“The BBC recognizes that IP-connectivity is quickly moving beyond the personal computer. This appointment signals our commitment to providing licence-fee players access to BBC content however they want it,” stated Erik Huggers, controller of the Future Media Technology Group at BBC.  “Dirk-Willem has made significant contributions to the development of the internet. His knowledge and expertise will be of great advantage to the BBC and the industry. It is a pleasure to welcome him to our division and I look forward to working with him.”

Matt Zelesko stepped up as the Senior VP of Engineer at Joost.  Zelesko previously worked with Mike Volpi, CEO of Joost, at Cisco Systems.  This news comes about 3 months after the Joost CEO stepped down.

For previous Joost coverage, see: http://pulse2.com/category/joost/

[Information Source: NewTeeVee]

After Niklas Zennström recently stepped down from his position as Skype’s chief executive to pursue other entrepreneurial ventures, eBay began to question whether their investment was really worth it. “He could have continued to run the company, but he wanted to focus on new opportunities. He’s an entrepreneur at heart,” stated eBay spokesperson, Hani Durzi.

eBay will be shelling out $1.43 billion for Skype-related payments this quarter. About $900 million will be for a write-down of Skype’s valuation and $530 million will be used to settle future obligations. The $900 million is based on impairment, meaning that eBay overvaluated Skype when they acquired the company in 2005 as part of a $2.6 billion agreement.

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A lot of expectations have been built-up for Joost: The company raised $45 million in funding in May 2007.  And since the company started, they’ve hired a new CEO and even gone through a name change.  Also while the application is still in development, so many changes have been made in the Internet video market. 

Around the time Joost finally released an invite-only release, Pulse 2.0, GigaOM, and Mashable were sending floods of invites manually.  The biggest problem with Joost is that users have to install an application that requires some of the highest hardware specifications.  It would probably take a half-hour for the application to pull up the video menus in developing countries that recently were introduced to broadband Internet.  There is a lot of aesthetic fluff surrounding the application that isn’t necessary for Joost’s primary purpose either.  There’s all types of flashy swirls and videos just surrounding the loading of the application. 

What is Joost’s primary purpose?
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Joost[1], the streaming Internet TV service created by former Skype & KaZaa founders, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis has appointed a new CEO.  The former CEO, Fredrik de Wahl will be succeeding to a chief strategy officer position.  The new CEO is Mike Volpi, a former 13 year Cisco Systems veteran.  The latest position Volpi held at Cisco was Senior Vice President of the Routing and Service Provider Technology Group, a division with an $11 billion budget.

“Mike brings unparalleled leadership and technology expertise that will enable us to accelerate the growth of the company,” stated de Wahl. “I am excited to work with Mike, both because he is an exceptional leader and strategist, and because we share a common ambition for Joost.” 

Volpi was also a board member of Skype and has known the Joost founders for years.  Also, Volpi was responsible for over 70 acquisitions made by Cisco.  “Joost is one of the most exciting companies in the media industry. Fredrik and the Joost team have built a world-class ensemble of talent and created a company and a product with the potential to change the way video is enjoyed around the world. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead this team as the company embarks on its next critical stage of development,” stated Volpi.

Joost has recently raised $45 million in funding from various sources including Sequoia Capital.

Previous Pulse 2.0 Joost coverage is available at: http://pulse2.com/category/joost/[2]

[1] Joost.com
[2] Pulse 2.0: Joost coverage

“We are taking action because we believe the rights to the Skype and FastTrack technologies were swept out from under our feet, and our 28 million Morpheus users were stolen from us,” stated Michael Weiss, the CEO for StreamCast Networks Inc. “The real story needs to be told[1].”

StreamCast believes that Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, founders of KaZaa, Skype, and Joost secretly transferred away technology rights away to FastTrack technology. “The sale of Skype to eBay was made possible through a scheme by many of the defendants to misappropriate the FastTrack peer-to-peer technology that rightfully belongs to StreamCast[2],” stated the outside Counsel of StreamCast, Dan Woods.

According to CNET[3], Joost has just been added in the list of defendants that StreamCast is chasing after. KaZaa, a file sharing software, faced numerous battles against the RIAA. Mark Gorton, founder of Limewire and Tower Research Capital[4] is now facing a similar battle[5].

[1] StreamCast Networks press release
[2] StreamCast Networks press release
[3] CNET
[4] www.tower-research.com
[5] IEEE Spectrum / found via Digg

Joost has been a viral hit thus far and many investors want in. Given that YouTube’s model gives a lot of power to users, the company is struggling to conform to the demands made by television networks. Viacom announced recently that they would be suing YouTube for $1 billion because of this.

However, it is in the television networks’ interest to partner with companies that have growing user bases and can host video content for them. This is why it does not shock me that Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, CBS Corporation, Viacom Inc., and Li Ka-Shing (the 9th richest man in the world - $23 billion) have invested a total of $45 million in Joost. Sequoia Capital is also an early investor in Google and YouTube.
“This funding represents a tremendous vote of confidence in Joost’s platform,” stated Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, co-founders of Joost. “We’ve carefully selected these investors from a variety of interested parties” because they can help Joost “accelerate growth and development of the company.”
[Information Source: WSJ]

The same founders of Joost also created Skype and Kazaa. Skype was acquired by eBay Inc. for a few billion dollars and Kazaa faced legal battles with the RIAA over music download abilities. Joost also has a dark side: spyware support.

I still have hundreds of invites so if anyone wants them, comment on this post.

Since I use Joost on a connection that does have any restrictions except its bandwidth speeds, I did not notice anything wrong with the technology.  However, there are network connections that have certain security measures to prevent virus attacks which makes Joost a not-so ideal video content player.

Ehsan Rahman, a U.K.-based University of Surrey student was banned from his dormitory hall’s network connections since there were multiple P2P connections streaming the video content used by Joost.  As Rahman explored this further, he sent me a link to a forum where Joost users found that the company actually supports third parties (aka “spyware”).

Here is a portion of the Joost license agreement found in the software:

4.2.3. When installed on your computer, the Joostâ„¢ Software may periodically communicate with Joost servers and/or Joostâ„¢ Software installed by other users. Additionally, third party software installed on Your computer may periodically communicate with third party servers for the purposes described in the license agreement or privacy policy between you and that third party.

For more information, refer to the forum on The Register.